It was nice not to have to rush on our last morning in Mexico even though we had a plane to catch. A plane? After 6 months and over 6800kms by land and sea it was time to take to the skies. We’d long been curious about Cuba and it seemed daft not to pop in since we were so close. As luck would have it, it was cheaper to fly Cancun – Havana – Manchester than directly to England from Cancun. Plus the latter option would have seen us landing in London. The catch? We had to change in Frankfurt; oh the perils of international travel!
Getting to the airport in Cancun was very easy with a regular coach service that only takes 30mins. We arrived in plenty of time expecting to have to partake in all manner of hoop jumping but in the end it was smooth and painless. Immigration procedures take place as you’re checking where you have to stump up P295 in departure taxes. Then before we could be issued with our boarding card we had to buy a Cuban tourist visa at a further P250. In the end we never actually got stamped out of Mexico and nor did we get stamped into Cuba. Where we’d expected to have to deal with lots of red tape but again, immigration was hassle free and the lady at the desk warmly welcomed us to Cuba.
The only downside was the poor exchange rate and to complicate things Cuba has two currencies; the convertibles (CUC’s) for tourists and pesos (CUP’s) for locals. Well, in theory that’s how it works but in practice there’s very little to spend pesos on. Cuba isn’t the oppressed, tightly controlled country you expect it to be and in fact, we were faced with contrasts and contradictions throughout our stay. The government gives people set wages and monthly ration cards are issued for basic requirements, along with free health care and education. A doctor and other professionals earn a mere 35CUC’s ($35) a month with others earning less than that, depending on their employment. In reality a waiter working in an expensive restaurant or hotel can earn substantially more through tourists giving tips in CUC’s. Or as we found, by prices on bills being more than those quoted on menus and the difference being pocketed.
In actual fact it’s very difficult to spend CUP’s and all the locals are spending CUC’s; so where are they getting them from? It’s complicated and confusing but this is what we managed to suss out. In recent years Raul Castro has relaxed a few rules and regulations with the most significant change allowing people to set up small businesses. There are now thousands of Casa Particulares across Cuba; these are private homes providing
tourist guesthouse / homestay accommodation. The government charges a tax per room irrespective of occupancy rates but considering there are more rooms available than tourists there must be a loop-hole. Here I’m talking about independent tourists – Cuba has more than enough visitors to fill these rooms but the bulk of tourists come as part of a package deal. This type of tourism uses large hotels, restaurants and coaches that are much more tightly controlled by the government whose coffers are filled. To put it bluntly we found Cuba unfathomable and with a constant supply of contradictions and contrasts.
Havana
That said, we thoroughly enjoyed the place and just under a week was nowhere near enough time to explore. Obviously Havana had to be given a good perusal and a few days in the country gave us a different perspective. Havana’ buildings range from downright decaying through to crumbling charm and peeking with fully restored colonial classics. Following the revolution manor houses were divvied up into flats and the facades of these buildings instantly highlight the disparity in people’s earnings. The end block of the middle floor may be re-plastered and newly painted, while the neighbours upstairs are leaning on railings that you and I wouldn’t trust to hold your weight. In fact in many parts of the city people walk down the middle of the road for fear of being hit by pieces of falling masonry. To enhance the feeling of having stepped into a time warp, the little traffic that is around is dominated by Russian and American cars from the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. While the bulk of them have been cobbled together with whatever would work and are running on a wish and a prayer, many having been lovingly looked after.
We couldn’t resist forking out 35CUC’s for an hour’s tour of the city in an old convertible but decided to save that treat for the end of our stay in Havana. So we spent the first day walking and walking around the city concentrating on the old section, which was much more extensive than we’d expected. The restoration work that has taken years to complete has been undertaken to ensure none of the buildings lost their original character. In fact in one square, they have huge before and after posters on display showing how true to the originals the restoration work has been. There is still much work on going which hopefully will extend to the residential areas so that people don’t have to fear falling through their floor!
There’s loads to do in Havana especially if you like museums and these cater for a range of tastes and interests. We only took in a couple; the Revolutionary Museum where it was interesting to learn about how wonderful socialism is and the City Museum. No, that didn’t have anything to do with MCFC(!) and in actual fact the building was more interesting that the exhibits. We enjoyed both but that was quite sufficient for us and spent the remainder of the time taking the city in on foot. There were plenty of touts and vendors around but none were very pushy and all of them spoke perfect English. The majority of tourists are American and while that nation certainly isn’t Cuba’s favourite, they like the dollars they spend.
I can’t think of another city that we’ve read so much about and wandered the streets so extensively in just a couple of days. We found ourselves wanting to know about every square, narrow cobbled street and wonderful building we stumbled upon. We felt we wanted to peel away Havana’s intriguing layers but soon realised it would take years to understand its complexities. Instead we satisfied ourselves with the information in our city guide and took the place at face value. There was an air of entrepreneurialism around the city and the disparity in earnings was readily discernible – not what you’d expect. In contrast, the state owned supermarkets more closely resembled museums with very few products to choose from and in limited quantities. Although people are living in homes in a state of desperate decay we didn’t encounter the abject poverty of countries such as India. Homes may be hovering on the brink of collapse but at least everyone had somewhere to live and food on the table. A sad truth is that some people have given up their admittedly poorly paid state jobs to beg on the streets where they earn more. I thought everyone knew not to give to beggars, but the reality is; the more we travel the more we realise the world is full of numpties.
The majority of Cubans are far from wealthy but we don’t feel that gives them the right to attempt to rip people off. I’ve already mentioned the difference between a menu price and your bill total. Other times the bill would be correct and we’d hand over the money expecting a bit of change but never actually receiving it. So much for tips being discretionary! Paying into a museum even has its pitfalls where we clearly stated we didn’t want to pay extra for a camera. The receipt was correct but on checking our change we noticed the camera fee had been taken – the lady behind the counter didn’t seem impressed that we’d spotted her ‘mistake’. Unbelievably we even had to keep a careful eye on proceedings in the bank where the machine: “didn’t count the notes correctly.”
It made us wary and almost suspicious of people, which wasn’t fair as many Cubans are genuinely friendly. The bar-cum-café culture gives the city a warm atmosphere and the Cuban music drifting through the streets and alleys adds to the charm. We spent the first day basking under brilliant blue skies but the following morning saw grey clouds and a decidedly chilly breeze blowing in from the sea. The fleeces were dug out of the pack as we’d pencilled in a walk along the Malecon or seafront in layman’s terms. This area of town was particularly quiet as the waves were crashing in over the wall making it a bracing walk. Later that afternoon it was time to have our treat and choose an old car to cruise around the city in. We’d already spoken to one fella so went to hunt him out as we knew he had some great cars for us to choose from. In the end we plumped for a 1958 Oldsmobile that had belonged to our driver’s father and grandfather before him. The vehicle had been lovingly looked after all those decades and ticked all our boxes – soft top, chrome dashboard, fins and ludicrously long.
The tour should have taken over an hour but with the waves crashing over the sea wall they understandably didn’t want the car getting covered in salt spray. However, we got the rest of the usual tour around the city, to the square where Castro made his speeches to the masses, through a surprisingly green area of the city and back to the capital building. Our driver had very little English so the agent, Michael, hopped in the car with us to explain the route. Along the way we passed an egg shop where Michael hopped out to do his marketing as apparently there aren’t any eggs available in the old town. Further along we passed the Viazul bus company so Steve popped in to buy our Vinales tickets for the following day. Just as well he did as the morning bus was already fully booked.
As we were parking up Michael said he’d be happy to give us a free 10-15min ride along the front in the morning when hopefully the weather would be better. Since we’d be catching the afternoon bus we had the time to take him up on this offer. There are plenty of people offering rides around the city and the following day we couldn’t find Michael in his usual spot. Had he purposely changed position or was he out on a tour? We waited for as long as we could before having to catch our bus and were just about to give up when ‘our’ car cruised into view. True to his word we got an extra ride along the Prada, a thoroughfare separating old and new Havana, and along the front as promised. It truly is a great way to see the city and along the front we were invited to sit up on top of the back seat. Rather posy but some things just have to be done. If we’d charged a dollar for every photo that was taken of us the convertible cruise would have been free!
What a fantastic way to end our brief stay in Havana. On collecting our bags from the casa it was time to flag down a taxi and catch our bus to the countryside. Many of the taped together ‘50’s Chevrolets are used as collectivos but we weren’t sure if we were allowed to use these. As we were lurking on a street corner an old grey Lada pulled up and the driver offered taxi services. We quickly agreed a fair price to the bus station and hopped in even though we don’t think it was strictly speaking a taxi. Another example of people feeling they have the freedom to make a quick buck. Steve was slightly disappointed that we weren’t in another old American classic. However, I was happy reminiscing about the old Ladas that had been our family cars when we were young.
